In just one week, sign-up for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) livestock disaster assistance programs has yielded 10,000 applications to the Farm Service Agency (FSA), including applications that have been started for the program that lapsed in 2011.
According to Feedstuffs, about 95 percent of the applications received were for the Livestock Forage Program (LFP). Through this program, eligible farmers and ranchers received payments for grazing losses.
Since the April 15 sign-up date, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said the agency has processed nearly 60 percent of the incoming applications and approved payments to help nearly 6,000 livestock owners. According to the USDA, an estimated $8.5 million has been approved and $4.5 million of that has been disbursed to livestock owners. The agency estimates $2 billion could be paid out under the new farm bill provisions.
Monthly updates—data by state, number of applications and payments issued—will be made available by FSA at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
Farmers and ranchers can still sign up for disaster assistance programs at their local FSA office.